China portrays its potential by making a clean sweep in Synchronised Swimming at 2011 China Open Championship on April 24. The championship continued for four consecutive days, where Chinese swimmers dominated all the seven events of Synchronised Swimming.

The competition was of considerable importance, as it is scheduled to precede the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai this July. Therefore, it provided a platform to the elites of Synchronised Swimming to warm themselves up before the world titles. The Open Championship magnetised the athletes of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Austria and China, but none of the international teams competed in the group events.

In addition, Coach to Chinese Team, Zhang Xiaohuan said, "There were only four foreign countries here and none of them participated in the team events, so the China Open for us was only a chance to test our players. The clean sweep doesn't mean anything."

China was the only team to compete in the free combination event, earned 48.000 points each in artistic and technical impression, and occupied the gold medal with 96.000 points. China also earned the titles of technical routine and free routine team events.

Furthermore, Zhang was not happy with the solo participation and said that there were some difficulties, which need to be taken care of and he claimed that he will try to resolve issues before the World Championships in July.

Sun Wenyan of China grabbed the gold medal for technical routine solo by scoring 94.666 points in contrast to Austria’s Nadine Brandl settled for silver medal after gaining 86.000. Uzbekistan’s Ruzmetova Anastasiya followed them on the podium for bronze medal, earning a total of 82.667 points.

The championship also witnessed an upsetting performance from the Chinese twin sisters, Jiang Tingting and Jiang Wenwen, who failed to defend their synchronised swimming duo title, after delivering an unimpressive performance at the China Open. The two of them were known as best synchronised duo after they earned the crown at 2010 World Cup, but now they are expected to be dropped out of Chinese squad for the home World Championships.

They lost the title from Ou and Xuechen on Saturday in technical routine duet final and repeated the same in free routine duet final on Sunday. On the contrary, these twins expressed hopefulness on their participation at the 2011 Shanghai Championships. The twins believed that they can meet crowd’s expectations at the upcoming championships by regaining their titles.

BEIJING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Twin sisters Jiang Wenwen and Jiang Tingting, known as the best synchronized swimming duo in China, may sit out on the Shanghai World Championships in July.

The Jiang sisters, who claimed a World Cup title last year in Changshu, China, failed to deliver a convincing performance in the China Open.

Jiang Wenwen/Jiang Tingting lost to the national team's Liu Ou/Huang Xuechen in the technical routine duet final on Saturday, and were beaten again on Sunday in the free routine duet final by Liu Ou/Luo Qian.

"I've said that the twins can only qualify for the World Championships with good performance," said China's synchronized swimming chief Yu Li.

"I think they still have some problems, especially in stamina, but before we make final decisions, we will give the sisters more time."

The Jiang sisters have not returned to the national team yet after winning the Guangzhou Asiad duet title.

"They missed the winter training due to injuries, so they cannot come back to the national team now. We cannot let someone take part in the World Championships only based on her old glories. It won't be fair for other athletes. So the twins still need to prove themselves," Yu said.

The Jiang sisters were quite relaxed about the Shanghai Worlds. "We hope we can make it," said the older sister Wenwen. "But if young swimmers are better, we can accept that."

"We are not in our best condition," she added. "We competed in too many competitions last year and we were too tired. We missed the winter training because of injuries. We will do our best to reach top form, but we need time."

Their coach Zheng Jia was optimistic. "I think Wenwen and Tingting did a good job in the China Open," she said. "We raised the difficulty and synchronization in their program, and they finished very well. Their biggest problem is stamina, and we can deal with that through training. I have full confidence in them."

"It won't be a big deal if the twins miss the worlds championships," Zheng said. "We can focus on the 2012 London Games."

The Jiang sisters finished fourth in duet and taking a bronze in team event in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. They also took a bronze in the 2009 Rome World Championships. They went on to win the the duet free routine final at 2010 Changshu World Cup.

"We will give the Jiang sisters enough chances to prove themselves before we decide on the squad," said Yu.

According to Yu, the final squad for the Shanghai Worlds will be made in late June or early July.

The Shanghai Swimming World Championships will run from July 16 to 31.http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/rhJMKNp0hva/China+Synchronised+Swimming+Open+2011+Dayhttp://www.zimbio.com/pictures/UblozcX-4sj/China+Synchronised+Swimming+Open+2011+Day